Bill Text: CA AB636 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Charter-party carriers: busdrivers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2009-10-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 248, Statutes of 2009. [AB636 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB636-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 636	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Jones

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to amend Section 5387 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to charter-party carriers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 636, as introduced, Jones. Charter-party carriers: bus drivers.

   (1) The Passenger Charter-Party Carriers Act, with certain
exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from
engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the
Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate
or permit, as appropriate, from the commission. The act makes it
unlawful, among other things, for the owner of a charter-party
carrier of passengers to permit the operation of any vehicle upon any
public highway for compensation without having obtained from the
commission a certificate or permit, as specified, pursuant to the
act.
   This bill would require the commission to permanently revoke the
authority of a charter-party carrier that knowingly employs a bus
driver who does not have the required license or endorsement to drive
a bus and would permanently prohibit a person who drives a bus for a
charter-party carrier without the proper driver's license or
endorsement from driving a bus of any kind.
   The bill would also require an officer of the Department of the
California Highway Patrol who stops or inspects a bus of a
charter-party carrier that is being driven by a driver who does not
have in his or her possession the appropriate license or endorsement,
to impound the bus.
   (2) Under existing law, a violation of the Passenger Charter-Party
Carriers Act, or a violation of an order or direction of the
commission issued pursuant to the act, is a crime.
   Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and
because a violation of those provisions or of an order or decision
of the commission implementing those provisions would be a crime, the
bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new
crimes.
   (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 5387 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   5387.   (a)    It is unlawful for the owner of a
charter-party carrier of passengers to permit the operation of
 any   a  vehicle upon  any
  a  public highway for compensation without (1)
having obtained from the commission a certificate or permit pursuant
to this chapter, (2) having complied with the vehicle identification
requirements of Section 5385, 5385.5, or 5385.6, and (3) having
complied with the accident liability protection requirements of
Section 5391. 
   The amendments to this section made in 1994 shall become operative
on July 1, 1995.  
   (b) A person who drives a bus for a charter-party carrier without
the proper driver's license or endorsement shall be permanently
prohibited from driving a bus of any kind, including, but not limited
to, a bus, school bus, school pupil activity bus, or transit bus,
and from receiving a license or endorsement that would permit the
driving of any bus.  
   (c) A charter-party carrier that knowingly employs a bus driver
who does not have the required license or endorsement to drive a bus
shall have its authority as a charter-party carrier permanently
revoked by the commission.  
   (d) When an officer of the Department of the California Highway
Patrol stops or inspects a bus of a charter-party carrier that is
being driven by a driver who does not have in his or her possession
the appropriate license or endorsement, the bus shall be impounded
for 30 days pursuant to the provisions and procedures for the
impoundment and release of vehicles under Section 14602.6 of the
Vehicle Code. 
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.